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Dreadnaught-Series Battlecarrier
Dreadnaught-Series Battlecarriers were a class of multipurpose heavy carriers that were ordered by Gaia and made by the Gaia Enginnering Corp. for the express purpose of combating hostile, extraterrestrial forces, namely the Entities. Before Exodus, six ships were completed, with three more ordered, but were lost at the Siege of Achre. Setting the precedence for Gaian Battlecarrier design, it would be redesigned and improved once more in buildup to the War of Reclamation, where a dozen were made. As the largest ships ever made by man, they were state-of-the-art in barrier shielding, plating, weaponry, and mobility. Their purpose in the Entity Wars were to serve as the backbone of a fleet, or Joint Task Forces as they were assigned. Providing fighter support as well as precision missile and long-range artillery from the back line, with the Dreadnaughts themselves able to repair smaller ships. In the War of Liberation, the Dreadnaughts proved positively devastating against Ta'khaiel Warrior Fleets, as their overall superiority crushed weak forces and were able to individually challenge a Standard Fleet. Gündar Fleets would even have trouble combating them in future war games, and the Silharae would find it difficult to hide against their sensor sweeps. In the War of Reclamation, the Dreadnaughts would be instrumental in defending the Terra Nova ''from the Entities and then absolutely vital in the final battle at the Entity Homeworld, codenamed Wonderland.'' At the end of the war, the Dreadnaughts were decommissioned and sealed away by Gaia, deep within the mountain vaults of the Zenith, waiting for the day humanity would call upon their strength once more. Background The concept of the Dreadnaught-Series was developed by the Delta-Orange Research and Development Group, and was pitched to the Founders and approved after the second Entity encounter in 215 NE. Based on information derived from the encounters, Gaia understood that it would be fighting massive numbers at a time, and as such, needed to mount weapons of mass destruction, to be able to endure exceedingly long battles, and to be able to support other ships in the process. These premises were later expanded to include carrier capability in the case that it needed to operate alone, it could protect itself from being overwhelmed by smaller units. To accomplish these goals, the Dreadnaughts would have to have material siphoned in from across all of human space. As Project Dreadnaught itself was a secret, the process of constructing the Dreadnaughts would be limited to a select few until its publication in the midst of the Human-Entity War. As such, the construction process was long and slow, as compared to the Second Series produced during the latter half of the war, which, from ordering to engine firing took seven years, as compared to nearly four decades for the First Series. Likewise, the Third Series, made after the War of Liberation, was finished in five years, as the Coalition of Freedom had devoted numerous resources to rebuilding the Dreadnaught Fleet After Exodus, and were able to complete the Third Series' order of six Dreadnaughts in an exceedingly quick manner. Construction would yield non-standard designs, but with generally overwhelming size compared to most ships of the New Era. There were three Classes designed, and built within the First Series as their own classes, all of which, while bearing remarkably similar aspects, such as great size, were specialized for performance in different sectors. The Gale-Class, Caela, was built around speed, being considerably faster than its sisters, with a maximum speed of .105C as compared to the Gale's .043C and the Hurricane's .022C. It was also the only ship until the Third Series that carried a stand-alone Space-Crease Engine, the first of its kind, able to tunnel through subspace to reach targets without the need of a gate. With also hundreds of vernier thrusters and the capability to make a 180 turn in less than three seconds. Later variants of the Gale-Class would shed armor for additional speed, and in its place, mount additional armaments. Furthermore, Their advantage is based around the element of surprise, using generally unorthodox and high-risk, high-reward maneuvers. Such activities define commanding officers of Gale-Class Dreadnaughts throughout history. It would be the smallest amongst her sisters, at 4.5 kilometers long, but her firepower alone would outclass many. The Hurricane-Class, Terra, was built as a supercarrier with a far greater capacity than its sisters, and as such was trimmed armament-wise for increased fighter carriage as well as a massive internal bay for ship repairs. It was also the largest class of all the Dreadnaught-Series, ranging at ten kilometers. The Tempest-Class, Maria, was built around offensive power, with its signature offensive weapon being the Burstbeam AP.EX-100, which changed little over the years besides being more and more energy efficient. Able to thread a collection of Ether-infused antimatter (colloquially known as Ethermatter) at the speed of light to an enemy target and explode, with variable payloads from one gram of Ethermatter (equivalent to 20 kilotons TNT) to 1 kilogram (equivalent to 2.45 gigatons). It would also carry a variety of other long-range, high explosive weaponry that would be devastating to Entity ranks, weapons able to strike from more than an AU away. For close-in combat, it is able to deploy an extremely thick flak cloud with a high enough rate of fire and overlap to enter one end of a Class-III Swarm unprotected and exit the other side safely. However, with setup of Subspace Restrictors and the need for Dreadnaughts to be at multiple locations at once, the need for more of these colossal ships was realized in the ordering of the Second Series, also but because of the need for more heavily armed ships, all of the Second Series was built according to the Tempest-Class. With the close of the War of Liberation came the desire to return to the Milky Way, and as such, Gaia began another order for 6 ships in 217 AX, comprising the Third Series, with all 12 now carrying Space-Crease Engines, and with general modifications to the overall design, and two of each class were made. Design Armor While all classes bear 10% Valantium in A-Alloy, armor thickness varies across all three classes of Dreadnaught. Armaments Each Dreadnaught-Series has a set of standard armaments: The primary armament of the Dreadnaught-Series conists of 55 GRANDARMS-HMG-120 Main Guns. These are rotary-type guns, built on a triple-barrel, triple-gun, triangular turret. The design is built so that each gun on the turret has omnidirectionality. Each gun is mounted on an independent ball bearing with up to 340 degrees movement in all directions, and each ball bearing is mounted in each of the three corners of the turret. Each rotary gun assembly has a rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute, and are capable of firing high explosive, armor penetrating, and flak shells. The guns utilize the 532mm MAX Shell. These turrets are found around the Central Block, with a heavier emphasis on the forward facing batteries.